Finnish shops resell clothing available from Shein and Temu

Some Finnish specialty retailers are selling clothing and accessories that customers can also order directly from Shein, Temu and Amazon, Yle reports. The gothic fashion shop Morticia sells some clothing ordered from Shein, while alternative-style retailer Cybershop says it orders its products directly from factories.

Cybershop chief executive Inga Chaudhary says the company receives weekly feedback from customers who suspect that items sold in its shops were ordered from Temu. She says Cybershop does not order from Temu but has sourced products directly from factories for more than 20 years. Many of those factories now also sell their products through Temu.

Morticia sells Shein clothing

According to information obtained by Yle, Morticia has sold some Shein clothing in its physical shop. The retailer has published exactly the same promotional images on Instagram as those used on Shein’s website.

For example, a pair of shorts shown in the images was priced at 59 euros at Morticia, while the corresponding product cost 22.49 euros on Shein.

Reselling products from Shein, Temu or other online retailers is legal in Finland. However, legislation overseen by the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency requires the seller to ensure that product information complies with legal requirements. This remains the seller’s responsibility even if labels attached to clothing are removed.

At least one garment sold by Morticia had its label cut off before it was put on sale. The Safety and Chemicals Agency sent Morticia a guidance letter last year concerning textile fibre labelling requirements and general product safety. Morticia’s owner declined to comment to Yle.

Cybershop products also sold online

Some Cybershop products can also be found on large online marketplaces such as Temu and Amazon. One example is a corset sold by Cybershop for 39.90 euros. The same product, shown in the same images, was available through Amazon in Italy for 28.99 euros.

Cybershop and Morticia are not the first Finnish retailers to sell products found on major online marketplaces. Iltalehti reported in February that Keskinen’s Village Store had also sold shirts and hoodies purchased from Temu.

Consumers object to undisclosed Shein sales

A survey of people in central Helsinki found that consumers did not accept Shein clothing being sold in specialty shops without customers being told about its origin.

Cheap clothing and accessories imported from Asia have long been sold at festivals and market stalls. Ultra-fast-fashion products are often considered so low-quality that many second-hand shops do not accept them for resale.

Cybershop has cut staff

Chaudhary says she became interested in the Chinese market in 2005 and has visited the country several times a year since then. She says she searches for new products and visits factories with a local intermediary she knows.

She describes the coronavirus pandemic as a turning point. When shops closed, their order volumes also collapsed. Around the same time, Temu became mainstream and began delivering products from Chinese factories directly to consumers’ homes.

Cybershop’s revenue has fallen sharply over the past three years. Chaudhary says the company has reduced its workforce by about half, ending the employment of around 30 people.

She says she has begun to feel uncomfortable with the culture of mass consumption enabled by Chinese products.